Tomato Rice Soup – Vegetarian & Gluten Free

This is the third post of the soups I made for a bonspiel at our curling club.

I have friends who are vegetarians and others who are on a gluten free diet. Of course, I had to make a soup for them!

From my experience, vegetarian soups are often a thin vegetable broth with a few vegetables floating around in it. I couldn’t see any reason it couldn’t be rich, hearty and full of flavour.

I started by making a simple vegetable broth. I put the following into a slow cooker:

1/2 onion cut into chunks (no need to peel it).

6 cloves garlic cut in half

2 stalks celery including the leaves

5 ml (1 teaspoon) dried thyme

5 ml (1 teaspoon) dried rosemary

3 ml (1/2 teaspoon) dried oregano

I just covered them with water and cooked on low for 18 hours.

I strained the broth off the vegetables and discarded the vegetables.

I find that sautéing mushrooms and onions gives a nice meaty flavour so I heated 15 ml (1 tablespoon) of oil and sautéed 1/2 of a large onion, diced for about 5 minutes, just until getting a bit of colour. Then I added 500 ml (2 cups) of chopped mushrooms. I sautéed for another 3 or 4 minutes until a nice golden fond formed on the bottom of the pot.

I added the vegetable broth and:

two 796 ml (27 ounce) cans of diced tomatoes including the liquid

one 156 ml (5.25 ounce) can tomato paste

5 ml (1 teaspoon) dried thyme

5 ml (1 teaspoon) dried rosemary

5 ml (1 teaspoon) oregano

3 ml (1/2 teaspoon) curry powder

250 ml (1 cup) uncooked rice

enough water to make up 3 litres (3 quarts)

I brought it to a boil and reduce to simmer. I cooked until the rice was tender, about 30 minutes.

I put the soup in the slow cooker to keep warm for serving.

The Verdict

This was a big hit and I was surprised how many people chose it. The rice gives it a hearty rich texture. The tomatoes have a bright taste and the broth was rich enough to come through. Even us meat eaters would like this soup!